117 Grand St 2nd Floor
Hoboken NJ, 07030

Phone. 973.780.7802
Facsimile. 201.216.1778
Email. hello@conveyorarts.org

Jason Burstein
Executive Director
jason@conveyorarts.org

Christina Labey
Curatorial Director
christina@conveyorarts.org

Curated by Corinne May Botz

Participating Artists: Ben Alper, Emile Askey, Laura Bell, Emily Cameron, Barnett Cohen, Eran Gilat, Phoenix Lindsey-Hall, Eugen Litwinow, Darin Mickey, Chelsey Morell, Caitlin Parker, Dominique Rey, Brea Souders, Ayumi Tanaka, Francisco Westendarp, Margaret Wiatrowski

Motifs of macabre and mysticism have been visible in art since its inception. The curiosity of both the tragic and the transcendent dates back to pre-historic cultures, and remain a common theme in contemporary art.

In many early cultures artisans communicated with otherworldly beings though funerary statues carved for loved ones who were making their way from the earthly world to the afterlife. Later the Danse Macabre, an allegory of death, surfaced as an artistic genre throughout Medieval Europe. The Memento mori and vanitas traditions of painting, which reminds us that our earthly life is fleeting, flourished in the Renaissance and Golden Age of Dutch painting, and remain a popular genre that many contemporary works continue to reference.

Since the advent of photography, people have been compelled to capture on film what is unseen by the naked eye; from the crime scenes of Weegee or the Disaster Series of Warhol, to the ever-popular genre of spirit photography, we are compelled to document that which questions and transcends our earthly existence.

Through dioramas of true crime scenes and the invisible nuances of historically haunted houses, our guest curator Corinne May Botz captures this hint of the supernatural in her photographic series “The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death” and “Haunted Houses.”

When curating the Macabre & Mysticiscm exhibition, Botz encountered a delicate balance between a sense of dread and a feeling of wonder in the submitted work. She identified historical motifs and used them to weave the show together. The exhibition is rooted in dark narratives that lie just beneath the surface of everyday life, evoking dark romanticism, summoning foreign bodies and creating a displaced experience.

Corinne May Botz on Curating Macabre & Mysticism at Red Roots Gallery:

“Through carefully composed still-lives that recall vanitas paintings, Laura Bell and Eran Gilat create and represent the vanity of life and encroachment of death through symbolic objects. In Caitlin Parkers film Regression, we see an uncanny splitting of the conscious and unconscious self as a hypnotist guides us into fragmented slippages of time and place.

Phoenix Lindsey-Hall’s reflections of LGBT hate crimes throughout America explore notions of self and other. Her installations reveal the transgressive nature of everyday objects and put the viewer in the uncomfortable position of determining who is the perpetrator and who is the victim.

Emile Askey’s subtle diptychs target the subliminal stimuli of the viewer to summon both confusion and fear. Brea Souder’s surrealistic photographs icily dissect and recreate the dreams journals of well-known scientists and philosophers, while Darin Mickey’s photographs of everyday objects retain a matter of fact existence infused with a sense of mysticism.”

Macabre & Mysticism is a collaboration with Red Roots Gallery

Red Roots Gallery
25 Central Park West
New York, NY 10023

For more information visit: {www.redrootsgallery.com }

WHAT EXACTLY DOES THE GRANT INCLUDE?
The grant recipient will have the opportunity work one-on-one with a print specialist to produce high quality archival pigment prints (costs covered by Conveyor) followed by a solo show in our exhibition space. Promotional materials for the exhibition and an opening reception for the artist will be provided.

DOES THIS INCLUDE FRAMING?
Conveyor Arts does not cover framing costs for the exhibition.… though we can certainly suggest framers we work with and help with the production of framing to keep the artists’ costs low.

IF I DON’T LIVE IN NYC, CAN I STILL APPLY?
Of course! However, photographers who are selected to receive the grant must be in the New York Area during the weeks leading up to the show to participate in the preparation for the show.

IF I HAVE A QUESTION HOW SHOULD I CONTACT YOU?
If you have questions about the submission process, please email us at photogrant@conveyorarts.org.

HOW DO I SUBMIT MY APPLICATION MATERIALS?
Please send all materials in one zip file to photogrant@conveyorarts.org.
Don’t know how to make a Zip a File? It’s simple. Click for PC or Mac.
Images should be clearly labeled lastname_firstname_number.jpg.
We only accept digital files with .jpg or .jpeg extensions. The maximum file size for each image submitted is 2MB, and should not exceed 800 px in width or height.

HOW MANY PHOTOS MAY I SUBMIT?
Please submit 5 – 10 photos. Edit wisely!

IS THERE A FEE TO ENTER?
Yes, there is a $25 application fee.

CAN I GET A REFUND?
No, unfortunately application fees are non-refundable.

WHEN IS THE EXHIBITION?
The exhibition will open in Fall 2011.

CAN I SEND MY APPLICATION IN THE MAIL?
Yes, you can send your images via CD. Application materials will not be returned.

WHAT KIND OF WORK ARE YOU CONSIDERING?
All photo-based work will be considered, we are open to alternative interpretations of photography and are happy consider work that falls outside the traditional photographic practice.
* Please note that the gallery itself is quite small and cannot support large scale.

HOW WILL THE PANEL REVIEW SUBMISSIONS?
The decision will be based technique, content and overall coherence of the body of work. The statement will help to understand your viewpoint as an artist and resume will inform us of your contributing experience.

IF I AM SELECTED FOR THE GRANT, HOW DO I PROCEED?
If your work is selected for the grant, we will schedule a series of consultations and printing sessions to prepare the work to be hung for the show. You will be expected to have all work ready to install by the date proposed for the exhibition opening.

DO I HAVE TO HAVE A WEBSITE TO APPLY?
No, a website is not requirement to enter but it is helpful in case we are interested in seeing more of your work.

CAN I SUBMIT COLLABORATIVE WORK?
Yes, we do allow collaborative entries. One artist must be 18 or older.

CAN I SUBMIT MORE THAN ONCE?
Yes. There is no limit to the number of times you can enter.
Each submission requires a separate entry.

IF I APPLIED BEFORE AND DIDN’T RECEIVE THE GRANT, SHOULD I APPLY AGAIN?… WITH THE SAME WORK?
Yes. We encourage you to apply again!
The panel of jurors changes with each grant, so there will a new perspective on the work. While we encourage artists to be constantly updating and expanding their work, we will accept the same images as previously submitted if you feel that it is finished and represents your best work.

For additional questions, please write a note to photogrant@conveyorarts.org.

The Conveyor Photo Grant is awarded twice annually and offers artists a professionally printed portfolio of a body of work that will also be a part of the recipient’s solo exhibition at Conveyor Arts.

Leading up to the show, recipients will have consultations with curatorial staff at Conveyor Arts and work one-on-one with color and print specialist, Jason Burstein, to produce high quality archival pigment prints for the show.

Frequently Asked Questions

Project Eligibility:

The project submitted must be at a mature stage of development, ready for print and exhibition.

Applicant Eligibility: Must be at lease 18 years of age and in the New York Area for the exhibition.

Application Materials:

Materials can be sent to photogrant@conveyorarts.org.

1. 5 – 10 Images ( 800px on the Longest Side, 72dpi )

2. Brief Project Description ( 500 Word Max )

3. List of Works (Title, Year and Printed Dimension)

4. Resume/CV

5. $25 Submission Fee (Pay Here)

The recipient will be chosen by a panel of guest judges, TBA.

Application Extended Final Deadline: September 18, 2011

Notification: Applicants will be notified within 4 – 6 weeks via email.

Please email questions/concerns to: photogrant@conveyorarts.org.

Mapping manifests in seemingly endless ways; much like photography, it combines individual experience and collective knowledge, and serves to connect us across space and time. The landscape neatly tucked up in one’s pocket provides both certainty and mystery. Abstract borders, creases, and folds promise paths for tomorrow, while worlds unknown sit on the edge of an expansive theatre waiting to be discovered. And so we explore.

- Dominica Paige

Introduction to the Group Show,
Conveyor Magazine, Mapping Issue

One If by Wanderlust marks the launch of Conveyor Magazine’s Mapping Issue, wherein the editors present a number of emerging and established artists who challenge and embrace the notion of mapping in their photographic work. The exhibition showcases fourteen of the artists included in the publication and expands on the work that was published in the magazine. The exhibition also includes several new works commissioned by Conveyor, including Charlie Rubin’s zine This Way Up and Joy Drury Cox’s artist book Old Man and Sea.

One If by Wanderlust highlights several of the artists featured in the Group Show section of the magazine, curated from a free and open call for submission, whose photographs consider mapping in an interplay of terrestrial, celestial, and metaphysical landscapes. The exhibition also expands on several artist projects from the Project Series section of Conveyor Magazine, including Colin Stearns’ Mason-Dixon Survey, Jenny Odell’s All the People on Google Earth and Joy Drury Cox’s Old Man and Sea. The work in both the publication and exhibition invites new dialogue with the act of mapping that span environmental, historical, technological, and lyrical points of reference. In the photographs one can find new pathways to knowledge about our world.

Published by Conveyor

24 Pages/12 Color Images
4 Single Color Separations

$30 / Purchase

First Light is introduces by five CMYK color separation screen prints corresponding to their relative time and distance in light. Through a color calibration system, the artists documents the research and process of calibrating images of supernovas visible from Earth.

Recently, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field imaging system unveiled the deepest portrait of the visible universe ever achieved by humankind that reveals the first light from 13.5 billion years ago. The exposure lasted for eleven and a half days and is as far back as any human eye has seen to the origins of the universe. The transmission of this information involved unencrypting and compositing it using a Near Infrared Camera and a Multi object Spectrometer to gauge the distance, and corresponding color information. This instrumental mediation resulted in both a map, and an interpolation of light waves from 13.5 billion years ago into their corresponding spectrum of color with red representing the furthest light, and blue representing the closest light.

In mirroring the working methodology of the Hubble image, the resulting images have been deconstructed using a CMYK screen printing process resulting in five prints, one for each of the color channels, and one for the composited image. This process departs from the original images intent and information by seeking to access what is hidden within the information and not within the resulting image. The images become reciprocal dialogues revealing multiple truths both in their form and in the mechanics of their production. Much like scans of an MRI, the images reveal privileged views of cross sections within each layer, but also guard against us ever seeing the whole picture.

As a guide to the processes being utilized, a color balance calibration target was also produced that corresponds to the density, saturation, and intensity of color from the original Hubble image that has broken the colors down into their most pure form. The target can then be placed in the frame of any image and balanced to the colors of the first light from the universe, thereby ultimately mimicking the first light of the universe into personal images.